The 38-year-old Messi suffered a muscle strain while ‌playing for Inter Miami in a 6-4 Major League Soccer win over Philadelphia Union 10 days ago, raising concerns over his fitness ahead of the World Cup.

Reigning ​world champions Argentina will face Honduras in Texas on Saturday, before ​playing Iceland in Alabama on Tuesday in their final friendlies ⁠ahead of the World Cup.

“Leo is doing well, he’s already trained with ​the group for part of the session, and that’s significant. He’s no ​longer training separately,” Scaloni said at a press conference in the United States.

“He is improving a lot and could even take part in one of the (warm-up) matches for a ​few minutes. We’ll see whether it’s this one or the next, ​but he’s much better, and that gives us peace of mind.”

With Messi set to play ‌in ⁠his sixth World Cup, Scaloni also recounted the exchange in which he told the Argentina captain he had been selected for the squad.

“I sent him a message, and he told me he would wait for the ​squad list to see ​if he ⁠had been called up,” Scaloni said with a smile. “I told him, ‘You’re called up.’ That’s how it happened.”

Messi, widely regarded ​as one of the greatest players of all time, ​captained Argentina ⁠to the World Cup title in Qatar in 2022.

The World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, runs from June 11 to July ⁠19. ​

Argentina open their title defence against Algeria on ​June 16 before facing Austria and Jordan in Group J.